Rise An Avenger (An Avengers Infinity War FanFiction)
by Kezzlebezzle
Summary: She left Wakanda to protect it. Never did she dream she would be the cause of its destruction . . . Alone and frightened, Phalaesia struggles to keep her alter ego out of the control of the mad Titan Thanos. When he finally comes to Earth, she learns the hard way - everything, especially life, comes at a cost.
1. Chapter 1

"No!"

Again, against all odds, she manages to block him. The full weight of the mad Titan descends upon her arms but there is strength in her arms that she has never known and will never know again. Someone who is willing to die, can give anything, for any price.

Winded, Tanni tries to stand again but Thanos rams his foot onto her chest, pinning her to the ground. Will the smell of blood never end? It is as familiar as the smell of fresh air. Bodies of Asgardians lie littered around the ship. Now Loki too is dead. And Heimdall. Powerful allies. And brave people. So who is she, to think that she can succeed where they have not?

His smiling face looms above her. Gnarled and sickly, he treats her to a filthy smile. "Your courage is noteworthy. I respect that. But little one . . ." He kneels closer to her and she swears she can feel her bones starting to give way, "why give your life for those who have never given anything to you?"

"I'm . . not, afraid of you . . ."

"Look around. Has Thor risen to protect you? He can barely protect himself. The so called god of mischief has become yet another one of my children. Why make yourself a martyr?"

She doesn't want to die. But then many things have happened, that she did not want. But the signal has been received. If they can get the woman out in time . . .

"Because I am on the side of life!" She splutters. "And you only live to destroy everything that is good in this world!"

"I will loosen her tongue my Lord," Proxima Midnight starts but Thanos holds up a beefy hand, silencing her.

"This is your last chance little one," Thanos remarks. "Tell me where to find Khalide. Or you will join your family in death."

Maybe it is weakness to cry. But she can't help spluttering out the tears. Singrid. And Beor. And her mother and father. They are all dead. But only she was charged with the mission of making sure Earth received the signal. And she has done her mission well. This is an honourable end, it is all she was taught to believe in. Spitting in his face, she utters her final words.

"I look forward to seeing my family."

He reaches her down. Her brittle neck snaps like a twig as her head drops dimly to the side. Until the end she was smiling. And her eyes, a peaceful blue, for the hope she never released.

"Mighty Thanos." Ebony Maw says as he kneels at the feet of the glory of his master. "Your will is our command. There are two more stones on Earth. Do you desire that we obtain them?"

" _Three,_ " Thanos corrects him as he removes his golden armour, revealing a rippled muscular torso. "Khalide remains in possession of the most powerful of the seven . . ." He ponders the situation. "I will need my full strength to take it from her. Go my children. Bring me the first two, but leave Khalide to me - I will deal with her myself."

And so it began. The beginning of fear. And of carnage. And of sacrifice. The fire is catching.


	2. Chapter 2

**So this was a hard chapter to write so if you can spare the time to leave a review so I know how you think it's going, please do!**

"You have broken your word by coming here, Phalaesia, daughter of B'Ela."

"Then you too have broken yours."

The spirits gnash their teeth. "You dare accuse us."

The woman who stands before them is not beautiful. Where she now stands, gods and goddesses have also stood, and fallen. No, it is not her beauty that bade them to call for her. It was her suffering. It reads now in the slight downcast gaze of her eyes, and the dried tears. The last one. She kneels down, before the pool, looking up into the empty chasms of the cave. She shouldn't be able to see anything for the Voices of the Lake are invisible to the eye. But she stares as if she does.

"You told me that the time would come when I would be free of Khalide," Phalaesia says. "You promised me. I did everything you asked. I followed Wakanda, I protected them. But every step I take has driven me into even more pain. I left T'Challa, I left my family, and now you would have me abandon what I _know_ is my destiny as well?"

The silence is as cool as winter mist, and as bitter as icicles. "You think you are the first to try and inquire of the future little girl? Thor, Grand Prince Of Asgard, also once tried to seek the future of the Universe."

"And?"

"And it is barred!" The voices chatter. "No future is ever certain. It could be by us revealing it to you, that your actions set it it on another course entirely. No one, even you, is granted the right to peer into that which remains unseen."

"Then . . ." She hangs her head, clutching her eyes. "Then I'm lost."

For a few moments, there is nothing but the sound of her breath. Her weary, weighted breath that comes with too many hours of thinking and not enough hours of sleep.

"There may be a chance . . ."

Instantly, she raises her eyes. "Tell me."

"Do you accept the cost?"

Her answer is instant. "Yes. I must know. Any advantage you can give me, any knowledge I can glean could save Wakanda."

"The pool . . . remove your clothing, and step in."

"Hmmm." She doesn't hesitate for long before she starts to remove her tattered clothes revealing a back riddled with burn marks and bullet holes. "Hope you're not a bunch of perverts."

"There is not a lot to look at."

She snorts. As soon as she steps in, she knows it's not water. Water doesn't glide up your flesh like some kind of creepy serpent. But she gives herself to it. To the darkness.

" _What is this?"_

 _Gliding upon the wings of space, going faster than time itself. A green stone which she instantly recognises as time flashes before her and locks into place. Then mind. The one in the android's head. The tesseract. The power stone. The soul stone. The reality Stone._

 _Something missing. Something she wants to see but the pool resists showing her._

" _Show me!" She yells. "Show me!"_

 _Plunged into darkness. And then something else comes to her eyes._

" _Khalide . . ." The woman on the bed is the most beautiful woman Phalaesia has ever seen. Green silky eyes, caramel coloured skin, and a smile, even now at the end, that could stop the spin of the Earth. Her little girl clings to her mother's fingers, her small eyes wrought with damp._

" _Mama, I don't want to go . . . I don't want to go . . ."_

" _Khalide, not now," her mother whispers. "You remember your calling. It is everything to you now. Do not be afraid . . ." She Taps the little girl on her nose. "Go now my heart. You carry my prayers with you." Her eyes widen. "Hurry!"_

 _The next creature to appear on the scene is so large that he makes the Hulk look like a rag doll. It's the feeling of running. That is what he ignites. It's like looking in a mirror and seeing in the warped density of his eyes, everything she never wants to be._

" _Thanos . . ." The woman breathes._

" _Jairis." His voice grates like a fork across a plate. He approaches the bed, the bed where Khalide, stricken, stands still there. "Is this her?"_

" _Our child?" She lays a kiss to her daughter's palm. "Yes She is. Isn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"_

" _You should have had her killed when I commanded. Your love has always blinded you. It makes you stupid."_

" _Ah my darling," she smiles. "I was not blind when I loved you. And I was no fool to choose it either."_

" _Nevertheless, I will not turn from my destiny again."_

" _She's going to kill you my love," Jairis whispers. "All will be as Fate has spoken. When our child grows, she will end this conquest of yours. And the justice you should have received so long ago, will be dealt out to you."_

 _Thanos sighs. "Forgive me, my love."_

 _She barely has room to cry as he wraps a massive hand around her neck. It's quick. It's painless. And the tears a monster sheds, for one he once loved._

" _I know what it is like to lose little one," he says. "I too loved your mother."_

 _Khalide trembles before the mad Titan. But she stands her ground and a tiny voice ascends to his ears._

" _But I loved her more."_

" _Parlour tricks? I know your face now. Wherever you go, wherever you try to escape, I will find you Khalide. And I will rip that infinity stone out of your chest."_

" _Not if I leave my body . . ."_

"Phalaesia!"

"Thanos, Thanos, Thanos . . ."

She doesn't see who pulls her out. She doesn't see anything but him. Again and again his name is burned into her brain.

"What you've done was very stupid!"

It's Strange. It's Stephen Strange.

"Stephen he's coming for me," she breathes. "He's coming for me, for me . . ."

"Who?" He grabs her arms, trying to calm her down. "Who Laesia?"

She laughs. "Father."


	3. Chapter 3

"I have to warn T'Challa . . ."

"You'll do no such thing."

"And who's going to stop me?" She pushes back at Strange. "You? They'll need all the help they can get."

"And they'll be ready," Strange answers, grabbing her arm to slow her down. "You said it yourself that wherever you belong, right now Wakanda isn't it."

"How did you know that?" Phalaesia questions as he leads her steadily back to the place where she was staying. "It was only me and T'Challa and . . ."

"I know a lot of things you don't know," Strange answers. "That's why you should listen to me little miss sassy pants."

They finally reach Grotto Street. Well it's not really a street. More of a road. An overblown road with wild plants growing on the way up to the farm, and sunlight that always pierces an orchard along the right as you approach and Wilma and Jason, the two German Shepherds that John and Lizzy keep. They've been so kind in allowing her to stay there. As far as they're concerned, she's just a little helpless girl in the area to visit her family. Not the truth. Never the real truth. Can't reveal what you don't know.

"So what do you want me to do, _Doctor?"_ Phalaesia asks. "How am I supposed to keep Khalide under my thumb? Yoga, a huge bag of weed . . ."

"Why not?" He says without breaking a smile. "It might lighten you up."

She flips him off as soon as he turns around. "Fine. I'll just sit tight here then."

"They don't know your name?"

"To them I'm just Katherine. I've got no defining features."

"And your story for being here?"

"It's airtight," She promises. "I'm just here to see my family, but there's been a bit of a situation with Dad when I ran away when I was younger. And now I'm trying to set things right."

Strange rewards her with a reluctant nod. "The best lies have a grain of truth so I'm told. Whatever the threat is, it will be here soon. When it is here, you will know. And I will come for you. But until then, you running around tossing yourself into random pools is going to cause more trouble than I deem worth my time."

"Well isn't that nice, see you then!"

As soon as he is gone, the facade fades. It's so easy with Stephen. To act brave, to act like you've got the situation under control. He always believes there's nothing that can't be controlled if you plan for it. But what about the things you don't plan for?

"Ah T'Challa . . ." A shaky hand comes to her chest. "Man I miss you."

It is on the way to the house that she feels it. Wilma and Jason. That's what it was. They always come barking mad, out to meet her. And Lizzy cooks gammon on Saturday's. You can smell it all the way down the road, she cooks so damn much of it. But there is nothing. And that is where instinct comes in. Something . . .

Down into the undergrowth she descends. Even the birds are silent. There it is again. Bleeping. One second. Pause. Two seconds, pause. Three seconds and then back down again. What is that sound? She should call in back up. And if she had some, she would. But once again, it's up to the woman to do the dirty work.

Listen . . . it is not long later that she finds herself at the rear of the house. Climbs. Eventually she manages to lower herself into the attic.

 _"No . . ."_ She keeps walking, ignoring the growing sense of dread. Down through the attic. And that's when it hits her. Broken furniture. Shotgun shells. Ripped photos, cracked cases. And the carcasses of Wilma and Jason.

"Lizzy!" She yells, unsheathing her sword as she races through the house. Somehow there's still a part of her that wants to believe it isn't real. That it's only a dream. That they're still alive. "John . . . ah!" Going down, she grasps her temples.

 _"How can you be sure she was here my lord?" The man who speaks is much smaller than the Titan Lord, but his filthy grey skin and gnarled lips signal the same twisted mentality,_

 _Her eyes flash and dim. Thanos. It is him. With John and Lizzy at his feet, and she remembers the powers of the seventh stone. To put together that which was broken. Like memories. Like torture. And this . . ._

 _"I have always sensed her," Thanos rumbles. "For ten thousand years, she has been jumping bodies like a carnivorous parasite. But now . . ." He kneels down to John's level. "Now she has settled into a permanent host. And that is how I shall find her. It would have taken me precious time to glean what I needed to know. Thanks to you, that is no longer necessary. I will start with the male. Have him brought to the ship immediately."_

 _"Yes my Lord."_

 _Lizzy starts crying. Or maybe she's angry. Either way Phalaesia has never seen the tiny woman quake like this._

 _"Please . . ." she sobs. "Spare us! We don't know anything! John . . ."_

 _"It's ok Lizzy . . ." Even as they drag him away, he's still promising her that it's going to be ok. "Be brave, don't give up . . ."_

 _"No! You're not taking him!"_

 _The moment she lifts the kitchen knife is the moment her fate is sealed. The knife clatters against his skin like a crunching fist as he reels around. SNAP! Bone folds like a tooth pick underneath his fists. And the corpse hits the dust with a thud, brains and blood spilling over the mahogany carpet._

 _"Lizzy!" If ever broken had a sound, this would be it. The portal activates. John is gone._

 _"Shall I move her body my Lord?" The gangly creature asks._

 _"No. Khalide will soon return. Let it serve as a message."_

 _"A message for what?"_

 _When he speaks again, his eyes against all odds, look right at her. As if he knows, and he does, that she is watching._

" _We cannot outrun the past."_

When her eyes open, she knows. That Lizzy is gone. That John is probably gone too. And another thing that she hoped she would never have to feel again. As she kneels down next to Lizzy's corpse, she cannot even see her face.

"Oh my god . . ." There's no tears. But she did hope. That maybe just for once, she wouldn't be alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Wakanda**

"T'Challa."

Once again it happens. He has only had this kind of sorrow three times in his life. Once when Phalaesia left Wakanda, when his father died, and now when she has left again, and once more he finds himself chasing, longing for something he can't have.

His mother emerges from the shadows into his room. There she finds him just leaning against the glass, peering out across the glorious expanse of Wakanda but there is nothing to his eyes but pain.

"You are not sleeping again," Ramonda sighs. She smooths out her charcoal garments, sitting with grace at his feet. "T'Challa you must try to close your eyes. I will have one of the Dora bring you some tea?"

"Do you miss father?" He whispers.

Ramonda clasps her hands, rubbing them together. She's not his birth mother. There are parts of her past that he knows but others that she always says were "nothing to inflict upon a child." Like the bullet holes visible near her collar bone.

"I think of him everyday," Ramonda confesses. "Even when I speak with him . . . I long to hold his hands! In mine once again!"

"Does it ever get unbearable painful?"

"My son . . ." She slips her warm fingers into his. "Listen to me. Your beloved is not dead. She's out there, alive. I am in pain _always_ only because I know that until the day my life passes, I too will never see your father again. But you . . . if you love her . . ."

"It's driving me mad . . ."

"Then find her."

A defeated sigh pours out of him as his chest slumps. "She specifically warned me against doing that. She said she was in danger, a danger that would bring Wakanda to its knees if she was ever found here. I _promised_ her umama. I promised her. But there may be another way."

"What other way?"

"An old ally, eager to prove himself again."

"What?!" She shrieks Down the phone as the car goes hurtling forward narrowly missing a motorbike. "But Stephen literally just told me it was fine!"

Wong murmurs back down the line to her but she's fuming. "Of course he's disappeared! I did tell him to be careful but of course I'm just a woman so what do I know . . . hmmmph. I'm heading . . ."

In the moment that her vision goes black, something tugs on her hand. She brakes, there's a flash behind her, followed by screaming, next thing she knows the car has left the floor completely, and then BAM! The heart gets knocked out of her as she lands with a thud, rolling past the flames.

" _Eyes up, eyes up!"_ Khalide chants obsessively. Her hands close around the sword only to find it ripped with ferocity from her grasp.

"At last . . ."

Dragged upright by her hair, she stares into a pair of stern red eyes. He's seven feet tall easy. The worst kind of strength, lean and powerful with jagged pieces of stained armour covering him from head to toe and a scythe that glows and speaks as a person.

"And who might you be?" She splutters.

His rotten breath saturates her nostrils. "Your worst nightmare Khalide . . . I warned you I would find you. And now you are going to give me the Infinity Stone and I will present it to Lord Thanos a long with your head."

"Oh ok . . . sure!" With the last word she thrusts two fingers into the sockets of his eyes. Rolling forward, she grabs the sword and twists around to face him again.

"Who is he Khalide?" she growls.

" _The Reaper, an assassin of Thanos, sent to do his bidding."_

He's standing up. "And you aren't going to help?!"

" _That scythe . . . keep your distance from it."_

"Why . . ." Narrowly missing the blade as she falls backwards.

" _It will separate your soul from your body."_

"Good to know."

The second the scythe returns to his hand she makes her move. Thrusting through her legs, dealing a powerful kick to his jugular. It's the armour. It's very good. And even as she takes him on, as long as the armour stays on, it is on vain.

And try though she may, she can't break through his defence.

"Giving up yet?"

"For you? Unlikely."

As he comes at her again, she Snatches up a piece of the flaming car. The shield of metal clatters and stings but it holds firm beneath the scythe.

"You always knew how to choose a beautiful host Khalide," he chides her. God he's so heavy! "But you don't know how to hide do you?"

"Uh excuse me, you're talking to _me!"_ Phalaesia reminds him.

"Oh I know," he grunts. "You've left your human stink all over the planet! If Khalide is not willing to turn over the stone, then perhaps you will."

Her fist closes around the vibranium blade once again. She's going to kill this fool. Then all she needs is Thanos' address and she can mail him the head. "And why would I do that?"

"To spare Wakanda, of course."

Truth. Always had a penchant for detecting the truth. But that doesn't stop her. "You evil moron . . ."

"We have blood to spare," He rasps. "Our sights are already on this so called hidden nation. In the moment that you refuse, we will attack. And your utopia, this fantasy you have . . . Thanos will lay it all to the dust from whence it came . . ."

"You're lying . . ." She cries.

"Am I?"

"You're lying!" The Reaper goes flying backwards, hitting a pole but Khalide is already moving before then. He threatens her home. Kills John and Lizzy. And now he tries to wave Wakanda in her face as well? No, he has signed his death warrant. She never wants to see his ugly face ever again.

Smooth fingers curl around his jugular. Part Phalaesia. Part Khalide. But always, always united in this single truth.

"You threaten my _family_ and expect to live?" She rasps. "And how will you tell Thanos of me, without your head?"

The blade is in motion long before she finished speaking. His head hits the tarmac and rolls off into the flames where it sizzles into nothing.

"Well that was quite something."

Phalaesia curses as an old face comes into view. "I knew I was being followed. W'Kabi."

"Phalaesia."

He doesn't half look weird in a leather jacket and a pair of jeans that completely derail the look.

"Your outfit sucks. What do you want?"

"T'Challa sent me to watch over you."

"Oh yes? Well . . . if the flaming car is anything to go by, maybe you should get into fashion design instead."

He pokes her as he walks past, pausing to stare at the remains of the Reaper's body. "How I have missed your viscous tongue. Come with me."

"Why?"

"Because it's clear that Earth is too dangerous a place for you to stay now."


	5. Chapter 5

**_Crystal-Wolf-Guardain967 - In honour of your kind review, thank you!_**

 _"Phalaesia . . ."_

 _"Who . . ."_

 _Cold. Very cold. And naked. She's completely and utterly naked. Which makes the cold worse, which makes the darkness worse and her throat is parched and even as she's coughing, she's calling out. And then they come. The souls. And not just one. Thousands._

 _"Help us . . ."_

 _"He's coming . . ."_

 _"No other way . . ."_

 _"Baba!" She shrieks, grabbing onto one. "Baba what's happening?!" For with every passing second her panic storms out of control. Something is wrong, something is very wrong, the crying is insatiable, the shadows are unrelenting._

 _"Baba!"_

 _His face breaks from the crowd storming through her. "Phalaesia . . ." King T'Chaka has never looked so pale on his life and he's grasping her hands and praying and tears are falling but he's leaving her. They're all leaving her. "This is the end for us . . ."_

 _"No!" She shouts, trying to pull against the tide. "I won't let it be! I won't let it . . ."_

 _A scene flashes blinding white in her head. Green grass and sloping hills. Ripping agony in her heart. She looks down. And they are all dead. There is nothing but dust at her feet and wind in her hair but she knows just looking at it, that everyone, that Stephen Strange, that T'Challa, everyone is gone. And she turns. And he's there. And his eyes bore into her. Right into her. To the core. To the part that knows she's outmatched. And grey eyes judge her. Thanos. And she screams. It is the end._

"Baba!"

She jerks upright like a fish on the end of a hook. Oh god. Maybe it's foolish. Maybe it's weak. But in the back seat of the van with W'Kabi driving, she bursts into tears.

"And What is wrong with you?" W'Kabi says unsympathetically, eyes never leaving the road.

Sobbing so hard she's choking. "Baba . . . he's gone . . . the Plane is failing, and all the souls are coming out . . ."

He raises an eyebrow. "How could you possibly know that?"

Oh wouldn't it be nice to think that. That she is too weak to possibly grasp the gravity of their situation. But it's the truth. And the truth is evil. It sickens her.

"I know ok!" She snaps. "I know! I've seen it!"

He hisses his teeth but before she can slap the smile off his face, he pulls the car over. With somber eyes he turns around to face her. "You were shaking in your sleep. Making noise. Grinding your teeth. There are rings under your eyes. And you've lost weight."

"Thank you Doctor."

"So I think you should get some food. Get some sleep. And I'll keep driving. There's a safe place . . ."

"W'Kabi, what part of the Plane is failing so you not understand?!" She says. "Eat? Sleep? There's no time for trivialities, no sooner do I close my eyes then he could be standing right over me and no one would be able to do a single thing about it, I don't _dare_ close my eyes!"

"Maybe not for you," W'Kabi explains. "But if you won't do it for yourself, do it for T'Challa."

"What?"

"The last time I saw the King was two weeks after your separation. He did not look well. And he was obsessed with bringing you back, with some notion that you'd return. He made me come before him and swear to him on my parents life, that I would take better care of you while you were away than I would of my own Okoye. And I will."

That's how they find themselves an hour later, with W'Kabi driving along, and Phalaesia forcing down a tin of cold tomato soup and a few pieces of stale bread.

"W'Kabi?" Phalaesia asks.

"What."

"Tell me of our home," She breathes, resting her head back. "How are the people?"

"I wouldn't know," he confesses. "I spent the last few weeks after the rebellion in a prison cell."

Silence. "What happened to his body?"

"Given to the sea," W'Kabi answers calmly. "Just like he wanted. Besides . . ."

Even as they are driving he runs a red light. Like it's nothing. "Uh . . . W'Kabi, you can drive right?" And another bout of silence. "W'Kabi?"

"I read an article on the internet."

"You read an article on the Internet?!" She shrieks. "And that qualifies you to be taking me anywhere?"

"Hey we are still alive right?"

"Forget Thanos," she huffs. "Might as well just wait to be taken out by A Red Light. What a stupid way to go."

"No. A stupid way to go would be with the life pouring from your body as you stare into the eyes of the only being who has ever made you legitimately afraid."

That silences her. "You know anything about Thanos?"

W'Kabi continues driving. "Before I left, Okoye updated me on the message that was received. We began to delve into its origin. It was not long before we found a history, a complex language. Shuri was able to decipher enough of it."

She's not entirely sure she wants to know. "And?"

"He's a god," W'Kabi says darkly. "A Titan with no living equal. His strength, his power, his intelligence led him to the forefront of the galaxy."

"Then where has he been all this time?"

W'Kabi gives her the once over. "It's not good to know too much Phalaesia. Too much knowledge . . . you've got enough problems."

"Yes - and people keeping me in the dark has _always_ been one of them. I'm not a child. I can take it. I can take _him."_

"No." When W'Kabi speaks this time, it is more resolute than she has ever heard him before, as if he is absolutely certain of his words. "No you cannot. No one can. Now put your head back and get some sleep. There is a long drive ahead. I'll wake you if we run into problems."

"Well I'll prepare to be woken then."

Sleep is a long time coming in the little car.


	6. Chapter 6

"Come here, child of darkness."

It is not the first time she has been before a tribunal. But how W'Kabi knows of this is nothing short of a mystery. Tall, blackened pillars. Charred pillars. The journey down here took less than an hour but she felt the magic. They're not on Earth anymore, for whatever reason. And now there is nothing but W'Kabi hanging around like a criminal in the background, and three figures in crimson robes, standing on pedestals before her.

She comes closer tentatively. Silence. The one to who she is speaking has a voice like silk. She'd do anything for that voice. And she has to be mindful of that.

"Beautiful."

"I . . . forgive me, I don't understand what this is. Why am I here?"

"Is there somewhere else you would rather be Your Highness?"

"What?!" She snaps a little more sharply than she intended. "Your Highness? I'm not royalty. My name is Phalaesia, daughter of B'Ela, guardian of Wakanda."

A long sigh follows her speech. And always, the magic intensifies. "You will insist on holding onto this lie won't you? W'Kabi, your services are no longer required. Return to Wakanda. The Tribunal will handle the Queen from here."

Madness. The whole thing is madness. And when she sees how W'Kabi slinks Out, tail between his legs, it makes her even more enraged. Protect you my ass.

Suddenly a mirror emerges from the smoke. "Approach the mirror please."

"Uh . . . no thank you, I mean it looks very pretty . . ."

"Would you rather be dragged?"

Imagine you turn your back on a shadow, never to face it again. Imagine it almost killed you the first time you broke the surface, and now you have to go back. That is what the mirror is.

"Fine. What can I expect . . ."

As soon as she sees herself in the mirror, she starts. Never has she seen a woman so . . . _biting._ Her straggly black clothes have turned to glorious cream folds, her frizzy unkempt hair seems to be shorter, finer, more refined as it curls around slate laurels. And her features - whoever this creature is, she doesn't smile and her simpering pride is written in every chiselled cheek bone.

Coming closer, she finds herself reaching out. She turns, and someone is there. Lurking. And when it breaks the darkness, she screams.

"Hello little one," Thanos says with all the warmth of a venomous snake.

She tears her sword from its sheath, lowering it at the grandeur of this thing who is clearly over nine feet tall. It feels stupid.

"You evil bastard," she growls. "You murdered John and Lizzy. Not a wise decision."

"Ah . . ." He pauses with an amused smile on his face. Ghoulish scars cover his arms and neck but he wears them as if they were the finest armour. "Murder? Sweet child . . . I _freed_ them from their pitiful states. Aged haggard bodies, and then they tried to stand in the way of destiny itself. To what end? Everything is as fate wills it . . . come _here."_

And like a puppet on the end of a string, her feet start walking. That was when it got blurry. When she felt a call in her heart. And the voice lay in him.

"No . . ."

He repeats it again. "Come here, _Phalaesia."_

"No!" She falls to her feet, digging her nails into the stone as the blood gushes from the bitten tips. "I'll never help you! I'll die before I'll help you!"

Through cursing and shouting, he grabs her by the head. "Are you ready to die?"

"If it means I stop you?" Her voice falls to a whisper. "Yes. I'm not scared of you!"

"I don't need you to be. I warned you once before, your life is yours but your _heart,_ your heart is and always will be mine alone."

Lowering his great face to hers, he smiles. He smiles. Right before he brandishes a knife from nowhere, and plunges it into her chest. There the grizzly organ emerges, beating and pulsing, and dripping with her life blood.

" _Mine_."

"Ahhhh!" The scream is cut short by her falling to the stone. Her head is still aching but when she looks up, Thanos is gone, and the mirror remains. For what seems like forever, she's just lying there on the floor, clutching her chest and questioning everything. Everything. Like whether she is really meant to live through this if that psycho knows her name.

"What was that?" She breathes through tears. "What wretched game are you playing with me?"

"Games?" The red hooded figure appears disturbed. "Oh it wasn't games he used to play with you. You don't remember do you? It is not the first time you have seen Thanos. You were warned. You were warned in a dream, a long time ago . . ."

"I was a child . . ."

"You were a fool. You were not born _here_ little one. Not on Earth. You met him once in your youth before he destroyed your entire planet in an attempt to defeat the one who was born to defeat him. But you escaped. And came here."

"Lies," she growls. "I remember my childhood. I remember Baba, and umama, and my sister, I had a sister . . ."

"Who looked nothing like you. They took you in when you were only three years old, and that is all you have been allowed to remember. The loving family, the dashing prince, and all these glimpses of who you are _not."_

"No! You're lying!" She yells. "Haven't I lost enough?! Haven't I suffered enough?! Now you have to take my memories of everyone I've ever loved too?!"

There is nothing but the weight of her weeping as she comes to her knees, clutching her heart. They are real. Her father. Her mother. Her sister. T'Challa. They are hers. And they are real. But standing here, completely losing it, she wonders if she ever really deserved them at all.

Raising her head, she cries, "What do you want from me?"

And she knew. She knew what they would ask. But it still turned her heart to stone to see the red hood figure descend down the stairs like an angel of death. It lifts its hood. And her own face gnarled and grey stares back at her.

"Surrender to us. Forsake your body, and give _full_ control to the demon Khalide."


	7. Chapter 7

_**Ladies**_ _ **and gents, please review if you can - if I don't get any reviews for this chapter, I have decided to discontinue this FanFiction just because there's no point in keeping on writing it if no one is reading. Thank you.**_

 **Thanos**

This isn't love. Her last words. His Gamora's last words. He can still remember the resolution in her eyes. He knew he would have to act quickly. Before he changed his mind. Just as he freed his beloved Jairus all those years ago. He grits his teeth when he thinks of the child. Khalide. She abandoned her physical body soon after and was forever jumping bodies for years afterwards, trying to get away from him. But Destiny always catches up. He learned that the hard way.

"My Lord." One of the Chitauri approaches him as he returns to the ship. "The Android has escaped."

"Leave me in peace."

It doesn't matter. Not now. Not when he is so close to finally getting what he has waited all this time for. It was in secret that he violated the laws of time and space itself, to find her. The throne room lies humbly in silence as he tears the cloth from the cube. Yes . . . he stares down at the Soul Stone. This day has come at the highest price he has ever had to pay. But if this works, it will all be worth it.

Pointing the gauntlet at the stone, he reaches out to the ominous dark cube atop the pedestal. And almost instantly, he is aware of another presence in the room. A presence filling every nook and cranny, saturating every fraction of air, nowhere, and yet everywhere.

"Who are you?" He growls.

Whispering. "No name . . ."

Not that it matters. But a name has power. "I . . . _request_ your aid."

"Progeny?" They whisper. "Seek you, to defeat Raze?"

"Raze?"

"You who kill . . . and torture . . . the humans . . ."

"They were necessary," he says. "Fear is like a weed. If you don't pull it out, it corrupts the entire crop. Every moment she fears me is a moment that she is not discovering her true power."

"And now you seek?"

Is it necessary? Is it absolutely necessary? "How do I harvest the stone from Khalide's blood?"

Silence. And then what was once a whisper rises to a battle cry. "Do you know how many laws you break by asking for this?! We cannot violate our commands . . ."

His head snaps up. "Who commands you but me? I possess the Soul Stone _now._ And you will do whatever it is I command without protest."

"We made a promise," the voice moans in agony. "A promise to _him . . ."_

"Your promises mean nothing to me. You will tell me how I may obtain the stone from Khalide or I will rain fire and smoke upon you!"

"There is only one way for you to harness the power of the Seventh Stone!" The voice weeps. "But the price may be too much even for you . . ."

Gamora is dead. What more can there be to pay? Too far, to ever dare look back. "Tell me."

 **Phalaesia**

No!" Again And again she claws her skin drawing blood as she stumbles out of the chasm. "Fight it! Fight it!" She grasps her head, trying, pleading, forcing.

" _Set me free!"_ The voice of the most evil creature she has ever had the dishonour Of meeting. But where once she was able to silence it, now a furnace attacks her very heart. She can't hold it.

"So you can join _him?!"_ Phalaesia cries. Where is she? This isn't where she came out and W'Kabi is nowhere to be seen. Her vision blurs in and out, and no matter the pain of her wounds, Khalide will win if she doesn't do something soon.

" _Fool! I am your best hope against him! I can unite our powers . . ."_

"I don't want your help!" She roars. "I don't want anything from you . . ."

" _Then watch me take it from you . . ."_

That's when the real struggle starts. A struggle where in the dark, she tosses herself to the ground, writhing, sobbing, like an invalid. She knows she can't! To surrender means death to T'Challa. It means death to Wakanda and everything she knows and loves. But even Phalaesia cannot fight forever. And the strength she once thought ran forever, is finally starting to snap as the ground burns under her hands.

"Baba," she murmurs under her breath. " _Please_ don't let it end like this, please don't let me go this way . . ."

"Laesia!"

His voice must be a dream. It must be her body saying goodbye and even that she cannot abide. But sure as the sun rises, there T'Challa runs to her side, throwing his arms around her as he bursts into tears. And only when he draws back does she truly grasp why. There's a blade easily over three feet long, driven into her stomach. Her laughing is the only sound as a broken T'Challa picks her up and carries her off towards the capital.


End file.
